Super quick and healthy flat bread pizzas

Pizza is one of those foods with a near-universal approval. It’s a simple formula, but with a huge range of variations – from the type and thickness of the dough, the method of cooking through to the most obvious differences, the toppings!

I remember my first trip to Rome most fondly for the pizza – I was amazed how thin and crispy their pizza was, which meant the toppings really got to sing.

The problem with homemade pizza, is that it’s a real faff – right?

Wrong!!

I made these pizzas tonight, we got in the house at 1930, and we’d finished eating by 2030. Including me frustrating the girlfriend by insisting on taking some pretty rushed photos.

Recipe facts

Preparation time – 10-15 minutes

Cooking time – around 12 minutes

Serves – makes 4 thin and crispy pizzas just bigger than my large outstretched palms

Calories – from 350 per pizza for a basic margherita, can be less depending mostly on how much cheese you use! Or more depending on what toppings you go for.

Ease – quick and easy, and fun

Ingredients

For the pizza dough

1. one cup of flour (around 120g)
2. 50-70ml of warm water
3. 1 tbsp olive oil
4. half a tsp of baking powder
5. 2 tsp of oregano
6. a pinch of salt

For the basic margarita and tomato topping

1. 400g of chopped tomatoes, drain off some of the excess liquid
2. 2 tbsp of tomato puree
3. 125g mozarella, thinly sliced

See the bottom of this post for more ideas about sauces and toppings!

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Now to make the pizza dough add all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
3. Mix it well, then add the oil and 50ml of water.
4. Stir vigorously with a wood spoon until the flour has taken up most of the water
5. Now turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work the dough with your hands, adding a little water or wetting your hands if the dough is too dry.
6. Knead for 3-4 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic.
7. Then quarter the dough and roll out as thin as you can easily get it to whatever shape you want – you want it no more than a couple of mm thick, the dough should be slightly transluscent.
8. Pop the rolled out dough on a piece of baking foil, brush with a small amount of olive oil on both sides (or coat your hands in oil and rub the oil over using your oiled hands).

9. 

10. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. You want the dough to start to have bubbled up a bit, with a tiny bit of colour to it as well before we add the toppings.
11. Now cover from edge to edge with your sauce of choice: For a basic but rich tomato sauce a simple mix of a couple of tbsp of tomato puree in a tin chopped tomatoes (with some of the juice drained) – this should be enough for a thick covering of tomato on each of the pizzas. If you want a really crispy pizza, use less sauce on top.
12. Top with your toppings of choice (see below).
13. Put back in the oven for another 7-12 minutes, take out when the toppings are done and the edge of the pizza are nice and brown. Check regularly, as these thin pizzas will go from almost done to very much done quicker than a store bought pizza.

Serving suggestions:

The topping I went for today, based on what was in the fridge:

• Ham and pineapple (I made two of these)
• Olive, sliced cherry tomatoes and feta
• Octopus, a hint of chilli in the tomato sauce, and rocket

Other options for toppings:

• Make an Indian-spiced pizza adding half a tsp of cumin and a pinch of chilli flakes to the tomato sauce, top with
• Top with sliced goat’s cheese and beetroot puree
• Sliced cooked sausage, or quorn sausages with sweetcorn on a tomato-base
• Use BBQ sauce or tomato mixed with peri-peri sauce and top with some chicken slices
• Quickly sautee some mushrooms and onions, and top with blue cheese
• Fry some pancetta and an egg or two, and use as a topping
• Make a welsh rarebit pizza – grate cheddar onto the pizza, drizzle with Lea and Perrins and a touch of mustard
• Slice some figs and mozarella, sprinkle with rosemary
• Make a white pizza, topping with ricotta instead of tomato, artichoke hearts and spinach on top of this

And having written all these down – I’m starving again!!